Moist Banana Bread Recipe

How to Cook Quick & Easy Chinese Recipes : Making Chinese Stir-Fry Beef

The Best Quick Mexican Recipes

Sometimes you might be in a rush but still have a craving for a tasty Mexican recipe, which is why knowing a few quick Mexican recipes is such a lifesaver.

You do not have to exchange flavor for a shorter cooking time. In fact, some of the tastiest Mexican foods are the fastest ones to put together.

Types of Fast Mexican Meals

There are two kinds of quick Mexican recipes - simplified versions of other Mexican dishes and recipes, which are naturally fast and easy.

For example, perhaps you have already made something like cheesy chicken quesadillas with dipping sauces. For this recipe, you would need to cook chicken, combine it with chopped tomatoes, olives, herbs; spices and more, then bake the quesadillas.

How to Cut the Preparation Time in Half

A quick version of cheesy chicken quesadillas could be made with flour tortillas, leftover cooked chicken, to eliminate the cooking time, a jar of enchilada sauce so you do not have to make your own, and a handful of ready grated cheese. With these four ingredients, you can make a delicious Mexican food recipe.

Quesadillas take about fifteen minutes to bake so you can preheat the oven, assemble the quesadillas and you will be ready to sit down and eat twenty minutes later.

Quick Mexican Red Chicken (Pollo Rojo)

The following recipe is fast and easy and you can assemble the ingredients for it while the chicken is cooking, to cut down on preparation time. You can make this red chicken dish in half an hour and it is delicious served with Mexican rice or plain boiled rice, to soak up the delicious juices.

The cocoa powder adds a real touch of Mexico and the chili livens it up a bit. This recipe makes enough for four people.

You will need:

4 chicken thighs or breasts
1/2 onion, cut into quarters
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
3 tablespoons oil
6 big tomatoes
1 tablespoon chili paste or chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic, pressed
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
Salt, to taste
1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

How to make it:
Preheat the broiler to high. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a skillet over a hot flame, then brown the chicken pieces on both sides. Add the broth and the water and bring the mixture to a boil.

Slice the tops off the tomatoes and put them cut side down on a cookie tray with the onion quarters. Drizzle the rest of the oil over them and broil until the tomatoes are shriveled and wrinkled. Let them cool for a few minutes.

Turn the chicken broth down to a simmer and add the oregano, garlic, cocoa, chili, and cumin. Turn the chicken over after a few minutes and keep cooking it.

Peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds with a teaspoon. Mash them a bit with your hands and add them to the sauce. Separate the onions and add these too. Keep cooking the chicken and the sauce will reduce.

If the liquid disappears before the chicken is done, you can add more water, half a cup at a time. The chicken is done when it is no longer pink in the middle and when it is 170 degrees F inside.

Great food has always been a way of life in our household and having lots of different easy recipes to choose from is very important. If quick Mexican recipes sound appealing, you will find plenty more inspiration at MexicanFoodRecipes.org, as well as traditional Mexican foods and cooking tips. You can make authentic Mexican food recipes in the comfort of your own kitchen and if you like to eat Mexican food regularly, you will be delighted to discover how quick and easy most of these recipes really are.

If you are looking for some great recipes or tips on cooking Mexican food and recipes of your own, the site will be very helpful. Whether you want a quick and spicy burrito, mild salad, or sweet and spicy salsa we have a wonderful selection of traditional and easy Mexican recipes to choose from.

If you are in the mood for Mexican food tonight why not give one of our recipes like our authentic Mexican rice recipe a try. Just one of the many delicious Mexican treats on our site.

While there take some time to learn more about the extraordinary history, culture and cooking methods used to make this wonderful blend of old and new world cuisine. We also have a full Mexican Cooking Glossary complete with phonetic pronunciations for the none Spanish speaking Mexican food lover.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=KC_Kudra

Fast and Fabulous - Pan Seared Herb Chicken Recipe With Chardonnay Pan Sauce

Need an interesting, delicious and easy to prepare meal? For an entree that can be made in less than 30 minutes (actual cooking time may be as little as13 minutes), try Pan Seared Herb Chicken with a light Chardonnay Pan Sauce. This recipe can be prepared with or without the sauce, and with or without the skin. Either way the chicken finishes juicy and tender and pairs great with white wine and most side dishes.

(This is a great "date night" recipe, but to make for a family simply increase recipe proportionately)

Ingredients

2 Plump Chicken Breasts (May use skin-on or skinless chicken breasts)

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

6 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon Italian Seasonings (may substitute fresh rosemary and thyme)

Kosher Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper

Optional: 1/3 cup chardonnay

Directions

Preheat Oven to 400 Degrees F.

Heat a medium sized skillet on medium-high with 1/2 the Olive Oil (1 1/2 tablespoons). Drizzle the chicken breasts with the rest of the olive oil, then crust the chicken breast with an ample amount of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Then, sprinkle breasts with dry Italian Seasonings (like Emeril's or any other preferred brand) until seasoned evenly on both sides. Do not over-season, however, with more than the teaspoon allocated. Place chicken breasts in pan, skin side down if you are using skin-on chicken. Add the garlic garlic cloves. When chicken has cooked for approximately 4 minutes (the skin turns a nice golden color if you have left the skin on), turn it over and place it in the oven for 8-9 minutes, or until the juice runs clear.*

Want a light pan sauce to go with it? Remove the chicken and garlic from the pan and keep warm. Pour off most of the oils, add 1 tablespoon butter and 1/3 cup chardonnay to the hot pan with remaining bits and drippings. Reduce sauce for approximately 3-4 minutes, stirring with a whisk. Plate the chicken and roasted garlic, then pour the sauce over them both.

*Note: Not sure if your pan can be moved to the oven? I would never put a Teflon pan in the oven, nor any pan with a plastic handle (even if the pan itself is made of metal). So, if you do not have a pan that can be moved to the oven, you can quickly transfer all the ingredients, including oils and drippings, into a shallow baking pan or casserole dish. For best results, preheat the pan or dish for a few minutes.

If you would like to see an entire meal plan that goes with this recipe, here is where you can find how to make a complete dinner for two.

C.D. Watson is the author of this article and provides free information on a variety of topics. Visit http://www.everykindofmom.com for featured recipes, gift ideas and more.

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Weight Loss Recipes - How to Make Patties With Absolutely No Fat Added

When you want to lose weight, meat is one of the first food groups you will be cutting down on since you know it contains much fat. But if you want to keep the weight off afterwards, you need to find a diet plan that you can stick to in the long run, so it mustn't be too restrictive. In most cases, choosing meat with lower fat content and using less fat in the cooking process will be sufficient to reduce calories.

For example, minced pork can contain up to 35% fat, whilst minced beef usually has a maximum of 20% fat. Instead of grabbing the next packet of minced meat, search for one that says "beef mince" or "lean mince". Then, prepare this minced meat in a way that requires as little additional fat as possible, for example roast it in the pan without adding fat, cook meat balls in beef stock, or make a meat loaf in the oven. Also try this unusual way of making patties! You won't need to add any fat, they come out just as crispy, and as a great bonus it will even save you time in cleaning up your kitchen because you won't have oil splashing all over the show like when using your pan.

Oven-baked patties

Ingredients

500 g lean minced meat
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 egg
2 slices of toast, soaked in water and drained well
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. crushed chili
1 tsp. oregano
Steps

Preheat the oven on 220° C and lay out a baking tray with baking paper.
To prepare the dough, mix all ingredients well.
Take 2 heaped tablespoons of dough, form a patty and put it on the baking tray. Repeat until the dough is finished.
Bake the patties for 15 minutes on the second level from the top. Then turn around to ensure even baking and crispiness and bake for another 15 minutes.
Remove the tray from the oven and let the patties drain on paper towel.
Serve or use as desired.
This recipe makes about 12 patties. Feel free to use your own favorite mince recipe instead. I usually make a double or triple recipe and freeze the patties until I need them. They taste excellent on burgers or sandwiches, or just with baked potatoes and salad. By varying the spices, you can give them any flavor you want. You can even chop veggies and mix them into the dough to give your patties a boost of vitamins and a very different taste.

When using your patties, make sure you serve them with a portion of salad or vegetables and another one of grain products, like whole grain bread or pasta, to make a complete healthy meal including nearly all important food groups. Remember to prepare the other foods with little fat as well. For example, make low-fat yoghurt dressing for your salad instead of high caloric cream or mayonnaise dressing, or choose simple vinegar and olive oil dressing. Grill your vegetables to give them a great taste without having to add fat. This way, you can create a tasty, filling meal of which nothing but calories have been taken away so that you won't miss anything.

Bettina Berlin is a health professional specializing in healthy nutrition even on a tight schedule. Eating healthy and thus maintaining a healthy weight can significantly improve your health and help prevent many diseases. Is your life so hectic that preparing healthy food often seems impossible? Then visit http://www.elishas-quick-recipes.blogspot.com today and get your FREE fast cooking tips and much delicious quick easy recipes!

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Home Cooking Lays the Foundations For a Healthy Body

All the fat from the cheese and chips that fast food chains gift, nestle in your body and most of it is seen deposited around the midriff. These fats live in the place of the essential nutrients that home cooking might have provided. From a theoretical point of view, everyone agrees that fast food delicacies are deadly concoctions that their bodies do not need. People do grow nostalgic now and then about home cooking recipes and smells that wafted from grandmother's kitchen, but somehow they go back to their fast food eateries, like an addict going back to his bottle. People have to be de-addicted from it, and giving them free recipes is one way of attracting people back to cooking wholesome food at home.

A balanced diet is the ultimate requirement for staying healthy, and one way - rather the only way - in which this can be managed, is by home cooking. There are plenty of home cooking recipes, and easy recipes at that, which make the dishes tasty and provide the necessary nutrition. Tasty dishes are the best way to make mealtimes a pleasure, and perfect mealtimes in which everyone join, are the best way to make family members bond together. In short, home cooked food and the dinner table can become the factor that knits the family together.

Dieticians and nutrition experts strongly recommend home cooking. While medical expertise itself endorses the need for home cooked food, simple layman's wisdom is sufficient to understand the importance of cooking at home with recipes that ensure a balanced intake of food. People of developing countries rely less on fast food chains for subsistence, and most of the households in these countries have hundreds of recipes that have been handed down through generations. These are time tested and proven, with unchallengeable nutritive values and taste. They have their own traditional spices and herbs and marinades, and each recipe is unique in its own way.

Cooking is an art, and a well laid out table is a symbol of the interest a person takes in the family's health, its gastronomic delights, and the bonding among the members of the family. Nothing will help this interest and care better than easy recipes. There are plenty of tasty and free recipes which may have a rather long preparation time and may require too much of labor. While these have their charm, they may frighten off the beginners, and make them indifferent to cooking. So start with the easier recipes, which can be whipped up quickly. While making the food simple, try to change the recipes, so that there is some variety. Somehow or other make the mealtimes attractive so that the family is attracted less and less to the junk food that goes by the name fast food.

Please do visit our site for hundreds of Free and easy Recipes for Home Cooking - http://veggievixen.com Veg Recipes, Vegan Recipes, appetizers, salads, soups, main course dishes, chili recipes, desserts, Cookie Recipes, Chocolate recipes and an extensive cooking guide.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sunil_Punjabi

Outdoor Grill Cooking Recipes

Outdoor grill cooking recipes & resources make a huge difference in the amount of time you will spend near that grill cooking with family and friends. Most people that buy an outdoor grill never really learn how to use it. As a result, they unfortunately tend to stop using it.

Here are a couple outdoor grill recipes for simple sauces that will get you off on the right foot with your friends and family. These are some great recipes I started with that helped me gain some instant grill cooking momentum before I moved on to more detailed recipe methods!

Everyone who has an outdoor grill and already knows how to throw on a few different kinds of meat should definitely have that one special sauce that they can put on just about anything. Well here it is!

The Sauce For Every Meat Out There!

2 cups ketchup
3/4 cups brown sugar
6 tbsp Molasses
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon barbecue sauce
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

Mix ingredients in small pot over medium heat until boiling. Let cool and serve with all your favorite meats.

Now I'd like to share with you another sauce recipe that is guaranteed to get positive feedback and big attention.

I once attended an Argentine barbecue. It was phenomenal! This family understood that barbecue does not have to be limited to just one single hour in a day. To them a barbecue brings friends and family together for the entire day and even well into the evening! They have parties centered around the barbecue with music and decoration. Its a blast! The meat they cooked was incredible and they kept using an amazing sauce on every meat. I finally demanded to know what that sauce was and now I'll share the special sauce ingredients with you!

The Chimichurri Sauce

1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
1 clove garlic
2 minced shallots
1 teaspoon minced basil, thyme or oregano, or mixture
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine the ingredients and set for at least 2 hours before serving.
This sauce has an amazingly unique flavor. It is most definitely addicting! It can be spooned on companies plates for use as individuals desire. It goes great on lamb, pork, steak and even chicken. You can put it in a clear tall container if you like to displays the colors. I like to show it off a bit.

Remember! "The type of grill you bought is not near as important as the time you spend enjoying it!"

The best outdoor grill cooking recipe source I found not only has the best grill recipes but also has every tip you'll ever need to know about grilling including meat temperatures, sauces, grill maintenance etc. This information can be obtained at http://www.bbqsecrets.info

By learning the best recipes and tips, you are maximizing your grilling investment! Enjoy!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bob_Baskenger

Fajitas - Quick, Easy, Delicious, Even For the Cooking Impaired

A little history with this recipe if you please. My wife and I have been vendors at a bunch of flea markets. At one of the largest (20,000 visitors a day) the guy next door sold fiber optic things like angels with wings that slowly opened and closed. Not exactly what everyone wants in their home. Coincidentally, he was also one of the fast-draw champions of America. You know, like in the old West.

I remember Johnny for several reasons. His cup was not only always half full, it was always overflowing. If you could bottle his attitude you could make a fortune. He knew I was a chef and he kept badgering me to try his recipe for fajitas. Finally I told him to bring in a sample, knowing in my heart I would not like them. He brought in an entire tray and my wife and I tried one, then two, then three and finally had to force ourselves from eating more. They were delicious!

When he shared the recipe with me I almost didn't believe him it was so simple. If you are in a hurry and need to get a meal on the table, or if you can't cook a lick but want to impress a date, this one is for you.

To make a batch of 8-10 you will need:

1 1/2 lbs. sirloin, 1 inch thick
A 12 ounce jar of the salsa of your choice
2 tbs. oil
A package of 10 inch flour tortillas

Cut the beef into 1/2 inch or smaller cubes. Heat the oil in a large skillet until it is very hot and brown the beef cubes for about 5 minutes. Pour on the salsa and mix well. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 45 minutes, stirring every so often. If y ou are not in a hurry, turn the heat to low and cook for one hour or more.

While the mixture is cooking wrap the tortillas in foil and warm them in a 250 degree oven.

When the beef has absorbed most of the moisture and the salsa is just a glaze, take a tortilla and spoon three to four tablespoons of the mixture down the center, fold in the ends and roll it up and set aside. Repeat until you run out of the meat mixture. That's all there is to it.

You can have a salad as a side, or open up a can of refried beans, top the fajitas with sour cream, whatever. These are great at room temperature as well as warm so you can take the leftovers for lunch.

For those of you who do not eat red meat they are also good with pork or chicken chunks.

You might agree that after cooking over 50,000 individual meals a person would have something to share. But that, of course, depends on whether they were good meals, great meals or mediocre meals. I can truthfully say that at least 95% of my meals were either good or very, very good. After all, we all make mistakes,and most of mine were made while I was experimenting with new recipes.

You can avoid those mistakes and broaden your culinary horizons by buying my award winning cookbook, Help-I Gotta Cook!. If you are a novice cook you really need this book and if you know your way around the kitchen it can only make you a better cook. It was named Cookbook of the Year in 2007 and for good reason. As one person said after purchasing the book, "it's the best teaching cookbook I have ever seen."

Buy it on Amazon.com or go to my webpage http://www.ineedtocook.com to learn more and find out what others say about it.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ed_Dugan

Belly Fat Blasting Oatmeal Recipes That Are Fast And Delicious

One of my favorite fat-burning foods that will help women burn more fat, especially excess belly fat is oatmeal. That is why I wanted to share some of my quick and tasty recipes for those of you who don't have a lot of time but want to slim down and tone up.

If you incorporate oatmeal every day in your fat-burning menu you will start to notice your belly
shrinking rather than eating a bagel, toast, or sugary cereal. Oatmeal also is a great source of fiber
which we need in order for our bodies to run like clockwork.

The following recipes can be prepared by stove top or microwave
use 1/2 cup of water when cooking.

Peanut butter Oatmeal

1/2 cup oatmeal (use quick or slow cooking oats without sugar)

1 tbl. of all natural peanut butter

microwave or cook on stove top stir in peanut butter

Pumpkin Oatmeal

1/2 cup oatmeal (use quick or slow cooking oats without sugar)

dash of cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

2 tablespoons of unsweetened pumpkin

1tbl of powdered non-fat milk

Egg Oatmeal

1/2 cup oatmeal (use quick or slow cooking oats without sugar)

dash of cinnamon

1 packet of splenda

mix in 4 egg white while cooking oats

Maple Nut Oatmeal

1/2 cup oatmeal (use quick or slow cooking oats without sugar)

Stir in syrup after cooking and top off with almonds

1 Tablespoon of no-sugar syrup

8 almonds

High Protein Oatmeal

1/2 cup oatmeal (use quick or slow cooking oats without sugar)

1-2 scoops of protein powder of your choice

after cooking stir in protein powder

Faux Cookie Dough Oatmeal (Yes that's right)

1/2 cup oatmeal (use quick or slow cooking oats without sugar)

Prepare this overnight or put in the freezer after cooking for about

30 min.

1 packet of splenda

This is a required taste but it tastes similar to cookie dough without the sugar and fat!

Heather Picken, specializes in helping women get rid of stubborn belly fat and inches around their hips, thighs, & glutes with her breakthrough 6-Week Fat-Burning System (http://www.mybodyisfitnow.com) for women 30+ all over the world .

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Heather_Picken